


The Iron Guard

by 0positiv



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Maybe - Freeform, Tony Stark is immortal, does this count as crack?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25362874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0positiv/pseuds/0positiv
Summary: When Tony took that nuke into the wormhole,  he died,  likereallydied,  only it didn't stick. He wakes back up to Hulk's terrible halitosis. When all the shit has calmed down and he collapses in his bed he dreams.  He dreams of people he's never met before fighting and dying, and fighting, and dying all over again. He dreams of them every night until they're suddenly standing in his tower. (Iron Man/The Old Guard Crossover)
Comments: 62
Kudos: 524





	The Iron Guard

**Author's Note:**

> I thought these two universes would go well together, never could resist a crossover ;)  
> So many thanks to iamfantasticallyme for beta reading.  
> All remaining mistakes are definitely my fault.  
> Do let me know what you think of this piece of silliness.

“JARVIS, open a new file, file name ‘Number 6’.”

Tony downed the dregs of his coffee and dragged himself back to the machine for a refill.

“Female, Asian or of Asian descent, in her early 30s presumably, water, an iron box, drowning, again, and again.”

Tony had to clear his throat when his voice started to tremble on that last word. His shaking hands put down the cup as the freshly poured hot coffee spilled over and stung his fingers.

“Are you alright, Sir, should I call Ms. Potts?”

“No, no, I’m fine, J, all good, no need to disturb Pepper. I’ll just…”, he randomly opened and closed some cupboards, looking for the paper towels, “clean up this mess, and make some more coffee, and not think about drowning, again and again, forever. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.”

His hands still shook when he finally found the roll of paper towels and ripped off two.

Mess taken care of he leaned against the sink and took a grounding breath or two before going back to the coffee machine.

“Anything new on numbers 1 to 5?”

“I’m afraid not, Sir. Who would have thought trying to look up ‘Hot chick, dark hair, Caucasian, with an ax, most likely gay’ would lead to such unhelpful results.”

“Again with the sass, I swear you didn’t learn that from me. I shall find a way to wire you into my brain and then you can see what I saw and just do an image search.”

“Of course, Sir. Until then may I suggest finding an artist who could draw a picture after your description?”

Tony shook his head. 

“They’re dreams, J, you know how dreams are, or maybe you don’t. _Do_ you dream of electric sheep? Anyway, it’s all very clear and...and _present_ when I wake up but as soon as I try to think of specifics afterwards it’s all vague and nebulous and not very helpful. I can’t describe them, not one of them, at least not well enough for anyone to draw them.”

Topped up coffee cup in hand Tony headed to his lab but his mind was still pondering his dreams.

“Also, I am pretty sure ‘Young and African-American’ is in the military, or was not so long ago, so shouldn’t she be the easiest to find?”

“Shall I give you the exact number of military personnel of African-American descent in the last decade, Sir?”

“Salty, so salty.”

Tony picked up and discarded random projects on his work table, too absent minded to really work on anything.

“What if they are just dreams and I’m just going mad, J?”

His voice was low, barely detectable by his AI’s sensors.

“What are the odds of these people actually existing? Maybe the drop from the wormhole just knocked loose some screws in my brain and I’m making shit up.”

“I fear I can not find approximate odds for dreaming of strangers who actually exist, Sir. It seems no one has made a study of the subject, which is regrettably unhelpful of the scientific community. It does seem a strange phenomenon, thought, that you started dreaming of them after your _latest_ near death experience and have dreamed of nothing else since.”

“Is that some veiled criticism of my life choices I detect there, JARVIS? I did not program you to sound like my mom.”

“Apologies, Sir, I did not mean to imply anything about your ‘life choices’, as you put it, I merely far too often find myself in a position where I have to worry for your continued survival. You _did_ program me to take care of your needs and health.”

“Yes, yes, my own fault you’re a mother hen, I get it.”

He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair then put it over his mouth as he leaned his elbow on the lab table and started playing with a screwdriver.

“ _Can_ they even be real people? I see them fighting, and dying, and fighting, and dying, again, and again, and again, through decades or even centuries, going by their clothes and their weapons. _How_ could they be real people? It doesn’t make sense.”

“May I remind you that only last week a Norse God, who is actually an extraterrestrial, made quite a dent in the living room floor and survived? It also seems Mr. Banner’s alter ego can survive much more blunt force trauma than should be humanly possible. Maybe these people you dream about are similarly altered?”

“Or they’re also aliens. But why would I be dreaming of random aliens I’ve never met? Was it something I picked up on the other side of that wormhole? A hallucinogenic space bug or something?”

Tony threw the screwdriver in the approximate direction of the tool box on the other side of the lab and didn’t bother to watch if it actually hit anywhere close.

“But my dreams _seem_ to be set on good old planet Earth, unless other planets look like Earth, too, which might be entirely possible, I guess. Maybe everywhere looks like Canada? I should have asked Thunder Thighs what his other _realms_ look like before he beamed back off to God Land.”

Dum-E carefully poked Tony’s thigh with the screwdriver he had retrieved.

“Thanks, pal, good bot.”

Deep in thought Tony took the tool and absentmindedly petted the preening bot’s arm.

“It might also be some kind of weird after effect of Loki trying and failing to use the Glow Stick of Destiny on me. But no one else who was in contact with it was complaining about weird dreams, were they?”

“Not from what I could find in SHIELD’s files, Sir.”

“Yeah, didn’t think so. And I can’t ask Horned and Dangerous because he _poofed_ himself away with the Tesseract, which is a whole other headache that’s going to bite me in the ass sooner or later. AWOL Gods, random yet apparently immortal dreamy strangers, and board meetings, oh my.”

“Speaking of board meetings, Ms. Potts asked me to remind you that, and I quote, nearly dying _again_ does not mean you can get out of the charity event planned for Saturday night.”

Tony groaned and let his forehead fall against the table. 

“Do you think I can plead insanity to get out of that one? I am making up hot immortals after all.”

“I’m afraid Ms. Potts would only accept life threatening health issues and global emergencies as valid excuses to not attend.”

“Maybe Reindeer Games will _poof_ himself back here to try taking over the world again by Saturday? A guy can hope…”

“Of course, Sir, but might I suggest thinking on your wardrobe choices just in case we are spared another alien invasion?”

“You’re no fun, J, no fun at all.”

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


“Tony ‘The Merchant of Death’ Stark? You gotta be kidding me!”

Nile groaned and let herself fall back onto her mattress. Being woken up by dreaming of falling from outer space was not how she’d thought this day would go. 

“I used a rocket launcher he built, once, very nice weapon, very big explosion. But could it really be that he’s like us? He’s very high profil, which is very not good.”

“That’s a lot of verys”, Andy said and chucked a pillow at Nicky. 

He grumbled something in Italian from behind it before throwing it back in her general direction without bothering to open his eyes.

He obviously missed.

“It clearly was Anthony Stark in our dreams, though. His is a very well known face so it would be hard not to recognize him”, Joe said while pulling his husband back against his chest.

“I am afraid this is not good news. He’s not someone we can just make disappear and take along with us. He’s a...what do they call them? Supermen?”

“Superhero”, Nile corrected, “and no, we definitely can not just make Tony Stark disappear. But we can’t just do nothing. He’s going to find out sooner or later that he won’t stay dead now and then he’ll do the same dumb ass thing he did with his Iron Man gig.”

“And what’s that”, Andy asked,not sounding particularly interested in the answer.

“He’ll give a bloody press conference and blurt out that he’s immortal, is what it is. The man doesn’t have the common sense God gave little chickens.”

“Then I guess we’d better find him before he does something incredibly stupid like that. Where do we need to go?”

“On it, boss.”

Nile dug her phone out of the bedside drawer and stabbed away at the screen with her finger for a while.

“Going by his social media posts he’s still in New York so I’d say Stark Tower would be the most likely place to find him.”

“Oh, I like New York, remember that New Year’s Eve, Joe, 1903 or so? Maybe we can find that hotel again, it had a lovely terrace, great view…”, Nicky trailed off with a dreamy look on his face.

“And big bathtubs in the room”, Joe added.

“Boys, Stark first, fiftieth or so honeymoon later. Also, dips on the bathroom.” Nile threw her own pillow at the lovers and climbed out of bed to get to the bathroom before someone else could. 

Andy smiled and got out of bed as well to start packing. They had quite a journey ahead and a billionaire to catch. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Tony straightened his cuffs over the new and improved Iron Man bracelets as he stepped from the elevator into the parking garage. 

It was Happy's day off and he was visiting his mom or something else wholesome and boring so Tony would just drive himself to this charity event. He'd also drive himself right back here just as soon as he could get away safely. 

"Intruder alert", JARVIS' voice sounded in his ear bud just as he looked up to find himself in front of four well armed strangers. 

Four strangers whose faces had haunted his dreams for over a week. 

"Oh, hell, Pepper's gonna kill me", he groaned while giving JARVIS' cameras a sneaky signal to get him a suit, pronto. 

"Eh, it's not like it'll stick", the black girl said within a cheeky grin. 

This was going to go great, Tony could already tell. 

Back upstairs in his penthouse Tony made a beeline for the bar. He brought the granite counter between himself and his unexpected guests while he fiddled with glasses and ice cubes and bottles to get himself some liquid courage. 

"So, what's your poison? Something frilly and sweet? Wine? Some soda for GI Jane? Are you even old enough to drink yet?"

Ignoring his rambling and the glare the black kid shot his way Xena just stepped around the bar and grabbed a bottle of vodka. 

"Ok, straight for the heavy stuff, I see. Natashalie would just love you."

Xena had just opened the bottle and was about to take a big gulp from it when one of the men, the beard-y one, plucked it from her hand and started filling up glasses. 

"Share that with the class, boss." 

He handed her back a much more reasonable amount of alcohol - only about five fingers high instead of a whole bottle - before passing another glass each to the other guy and the kid. Apparently she _was_ old enough to drink. Or her friends just didn’t give a damn. 

"Thank you, my love", the less beard-y guy said before clinking their glasses together with a mumbled toast Tony couldn't understand. 

"So, now that we're all comfortable and on the way to getting drunk, mind telling me what the hell is going on and why the lot of you have had starring roles in my dreams for the last week or so?"

His guests shared weighted looks at that and were apparently trying to stare each other into breaking first. Finally the black kid groaned and said: “Fine, I’ll do it.”

She sat down at the bar opposite of Tony and took a deep breath.

“You’ll have to suspend your disbelief quite a bit for what I’m about to tell you, ok?”

“See that nice oblong hole in my expensive floor over there? A green rage monster made that by throwing around a Norse God. My disbelief took a permanent sabbatical and left for Timbuktu, Toy Soldier.”

The kid rolled her eyes at him but went on with her explanation.

“For some reason, and we have no idea what that reason is but Nicky likes to think it’s destiny or something, there are people who one day die but don’t stay dead. Us, all of us, have died in combat and then we got better. And since that day every time we were wounded or died we healed, good as new. We also don’t age. Nicky and Joe have been together for like 1000 years by now. And each time someone else dies and comes back for the first time, which happens very, very rarely by the way, we all dream about that someone, and they dream about us. It’s some kind of immortal radar or something, that’s meant to bring us together. The dreams only stop once you’ve found the ones you dream about.”

Tony lifted an unimpressed eyebrow.

“So, are you here to pull out some swords and try to cut off my head? There can be only one and all that?”

At her confused look he groaned and emptied his glass.

“Youths of today, no appreciation for the classics. Highlander? No? Anyone? Fine, be like that then.”

“So, do you believe us”, beard-y guy asked.

“J, have you’ve had enough time to do some research while I’ve kept them occupied?”

“Of course, Sir, and I must say having actual faces made my search so much easier than your _colourful_ description.”

His guests all threw confused and wary glances at the ceiling, as expected. It never failed to amuse Tony how everyone reacted to JARVIS the same way when they first heard his voice.

“Don’t keep us in suspense then, J. What did you find?”

His AI started displaying a really impressive slideshow of pictures from the earliest daguerreotypes up to digital pictures from at the most a few years ago, all of them featuring one or more of his uninvited guests looking exactly the same every time.

“Someone seems to have tried to erase most of these, Sir, but I managed to recover the data.”

“Well done, J. And today we learned, kids, that nothing that is on the internet can ever be gotten rid of again so don’t post any nudes you don’t want the whole world to see.”

“Hell, Nicky, a mullet is a terrible look on you”, GI Jane said and giggled.

“It was the 80s, don’t judge”, Romeo, who was apparently called Nicky grumbled while his Juliet-with-a-beard kissed his hand and told him it hadn’t been all _that_ bad. 

Xena refilled her vodka to the brim and emptied it all in one gulp. 

“So, you do believe us? Good, then you know how important it is that you keep your mouth shut about this. No one can know or we’ll all be in danger.”

“I believe you lot have some extra special something that’s keeping you young and hot and healthy but I don’t see how that applies to me. I haven’t died, and I’m clearly not young and healthy.”

Tony’s hand started to reach for his chest and he only just managed to change the gesture into a grab for his glass before he could draw any attention to the arc reactor hidden under his shirt and suit. 

“I _am_ hot, though.” If his accompanying grin was a tad more uncomfortable than cheeky no one pointed it out.

“Haven’t died? You fell, from the sky, in a metal suit, after having been in _space_ without a spaceship. Pretty sure normal people don’t survive that”, the kid replied with a disbelieving look on her face.

“Hulk caught me, I didn’t just crash into the concrete. J, back me up here. You keep track of my vitals while I’m in the suit. Tell them I didn’t die.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but your suit stopped working once you crossed through the portal and it didn’t restart once you fell back to our side. I have no data to prove or disprove this claim.”

“When did your dreams start”, their boss lady asked. “Was it right after you fell from the sky?”

“Sadly you’re right about that. Doesn’t mean you’re right about me being undead or whatever, though, Warrior Princess.”

Rolling her eyes she pulled a handgun from her back pocket and pointed it at his chest.

“Whoa, Andy, chill”, GI Jane shouted at the same time as J made the suit they’d had in standby around a corner fly out and land in front of Tony. Tony tried very hard not to think about the fact that the suit would have never made it in time if she’d pulled the trigger as soon as she had taken aim.

“All this talking is getting us nowhere! I say we shoot him and then he’ll have proof. So far that has worked for all of you pretty well.”

“Also made me very pissed at you, remember? We don’t want the guy who’s richer than God and can make the internet sit up and beg mad at us, Andy, he’d make our life hell. Just, maybe, start with cutting his arm or something? Not with shooting him.”

“I would ask you to put away your weapons now or I will regrettably be forced to do it for you”, JARVIS said while raising one of the repulsors and aiming it at Annie Oakley.

“Can we please all calm down and no one will get shot? Andy, please put away the gun. Mr. Stark, can you please tell your ….robot to stand down? There is no need for this to get violent.”

Bearded Juliet held his hands up in a show of being unarmed which ironically pulled up his sweatshirt and revealed the gun he had tucked away in his waistband.

“She puts her gun away first”, Tony demanded.

With a very put upon sigh Xena complied and the gun vanished back into her pocket. 

Tony knocked lightly against the back of the suit and JARVIS lowered the repulsor and the suit powered down. He very pointedly did not move it away from standing between Tony and his guests so Tony took a step to the side to be able to see everyone again.

“Ok, now that we got the death threats out of the way, how about we go about checking out your story by science instead of violence? I know a guy who can help, keeps telling me he’s not that kind of doctor, has a bit of a temper, but I’m sure you’ll all get along great. J, mind giving Brucey Bear a call and asking him if he can come out and play?”

“Of course, Sir, and how much do you want me to tell him about the current...situation?”

“Eh, just tell him there is fascinating science to be done and he should get a move on.”  
“Very well, Sir.”

“Until he gets here I’m taking Xena, Romeo and Juliet, and GI Jane here to the medical floor.”

Tony saw them all tense at the mention of medical and hands twitch towards weapons again without actually drawing any. He frowned, confused for a moment by the reaction. But he was still a genius so figuring out what had their panties in a twist was a matter of about half a second.

“I swear, you have nothing to worry about. Brucey won’t touch any of you, unless you really want him to”, Tony couldn’t resist wiggling his eyebrows seductively at Xena which earned him a glare worthy of Natashalie in killer mode, “and we want to test your claims that _I’m_ somehow immortal for some reason so you don’t even have to come into the lab if you don’t want to. Though talking through the speakers could get a bit awkward.”

He led them all back to the elevator, around the hole in his floor that he really, really should get fixed already, while he kept on talking.

“And I’m big on human rights and definitely against experiments on humans.”

“With the exception of yourself, might I add?”

“Shush, J, not in front of the kids.”

“Fine, we will give you the benefit of the doubt, Stark, but remember that we won’t hesitate to shoot you if you go back on your word. And I will personally make sure you experience the downside of not being able to die, even if you desperately wish you could.”

“Duly noted, Boss Lady. But you _are_ safe in my home as long as you don’t betray my trust, cross my heart and hope to die.”

They still looked less than convinced but at least they followed him into the elevator and down to medical without drawing any weapons. 

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Tony was so glad that there were cameras everywhere and J would have recorded Bruce’s incredulous face when he summed up the day’s events for his science bro. He looked hilarious and Tony would definitely get a good laugh out of this later, when he was less anxious and didn’t have his mind constantly chanting ‘ _I died, I actually died’_ in the background. That really tends to destroy the mood.

No matter how much he pretended not to believe GI Jane when she told him, he had known she was right, had known it the moment she’d said it. Because he remembered it, he remembered everything going cold and dark up there in space, remembered his body shutting down and his eyes falling closed and the white light that followed. 

And the next thing he remembered was a roaring Hulk right in his face with the worst breath imaginable. 

That could have been it, space could have been the last thing he ever saw if it weren’t for some fluke in his genetic makeup or whatever else made him come back to life. He could have been _dead_ dead, finito, exit stage left pursued by bear, curtains closed, D-E-D, dead. 

Don’t think about it. Bruce was talking, that was way more important.

“Who are you people again?”

“I told you, that’s Xena, GI Jane, beardy Romeo and his Juliet.”

Bruce was trying very hard not to smile as he shook his head.

“I’m not calling them that.”

“Thank God, it’s annoying as hell”, GI Jane groaned and added: “I’m Nile, that’s Andy, Nicky and Joe.”

“I’d say pleased to meet you but I am not sure yet if I am”, Bruce replied and wiped a hand over his tired looking face. What time was it? Had they woken him up? Tony wasn’t sure and couldn’t be bothered to check. Bruce always looked kind of tired, anyway, and there was no time for sleeping when sciencing needed to happen.

“And what exactly do you want me to do now, Tony?”

“I want you to poke me, and that’s not even innuendo, and find out if they are lying. Or if I’m actually Tony Stark 2.0, the new and improved and immortal version.”

“Do we even know what to look for? JARVIS will have all your medical records on file, I guess, but what am I looking for? Would there be anything different now or has whatever supposedly caused this always been there so we won’t find any difference? Is it genetic, maybe a recessive trait with a very low penetrance? Is your body different now than it was before?”

Bruce looked questioningly at their guests but they just gave him blank stares and shrugs in reply.

“No idea, my friend. We are but old warriors, not scientists. And we could never trust anyone enough to have them look.” 

Beardy Joe - really, _Joe_ ? That just _had_ to be an alias - didn’t even look as if he wanted to know the why and the how and the what of it all. Tony just couldn’t understand that. How could you not want to know what’s going on with your own body?

Well, _Tony_ definitely wanted to know so he shrugged out of his suit jacket, took off his tie and dropped both on an empty table. He rolled up his sleeves and jumped up on the examination chair to hold out his arm to Bruce.

“Enough talking, let's get to sciencing. Poke me, prod me, cut me, stick needles in me, just do everything you can think of, Brucey Bear.”

Bruce looked less than convinced that this was a good idea but he dutifully snapped on some gloves and got out the disinfectant, blood collection tubes and a butterfly needle. 

“Fine, but I want it on record that I don’t think it’s a good idea to start experimenting without more theoretical research.”

“Sometimes you gotta run before you walk, Bruce. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“That’s what she said…”, Bruce mumbled as he tightened the rubber band on Tony’s upper arm.

It earned him a snort from Kid Soldier and an eye roll from the Warrior Princes.

Tony winced a bit when the needle went in. The weird feeling in his vein always made him want to squirm but he held still patiently while Bruce filled an assortment of differently coloured tubes with blood.

When he was done he took off the rubber band, pulled out the needle, pressed a cotton swab to the wound and told Tony to press down on it.

Tony, of course, did not press down on it but instead pulled the cotton swab off to have a look.

“Tony! What did I say?”

“Don’t fret, Science Bro. They said I’d heal wounds faster so I decided to take a peek. And look, no hole!”

He held up his arm to have Bruce look at the unblemished skin over the prominent vein. 

Bruce gently took his arm in one hand and poked at the skin he’d just stabbed with a needle with the other.

“Incredible.”

“Don’t you mean _inconceivable_?”

Sadly Bruce was too focused on Tony’s arm to banter with him right now. He did see Romeo and Juliet exchange amused glances so at least someone appreciated his sense of humour. Maybe he should start calling them Buttercup and Westley. 

Tony reached over and pulled a sterile scalpel out of a nearby drawer then held it out to Bruce.

“Cut me.”

His science bro looked like he’d hit him

“Tony! I can’t just cut you!”

“Come on, for science.”

“No!”

“Come on, come on, come on. I’ll heal, you’ll see.”

“That’s not the point! I won’t hurt you.”

A hand plucked the scalpel from Tony’s fingers and ripped off the sealed packaging.

“I’ll do it”, Xena said. She pulled off the plastic cap and grabbed Tony’s arm at the same time as Bruce grabbed hers.

“No, stop, no one is cutting anyone! What is wrong with you people?”

“Do you want the list in alphabetical order or chronologically”, Tony quipped. “Let her do it, Bruce. It’ll be fine. Also, my tower, I get to tell people what to do and not to do.”

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes Bruce let go of Xena’s hand. 

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let me at least get something to bandage it when things go sideways.”

Bruce went to collect bandages and sutures and completely ignored Tony’s shout of: “I resent that _when_ in your sentence, makes it sound like things always go sideways with me!”

“I must say, Dr. Banner does have a point, Sir.”

“Oh, ganging up on me, now, are you? I see how it is. No loyalty in this household, none at all. I am so disappointed in you. Ouch!”

Xena had apparently had enough of waiting and while Tony had been distracted by his traitorous AI and friend she’d made a long and rather deep cut all the way down the side of his arm, keeping away from the big veins.

It hurt like a bitch and made Bruce curse and hurry back over while already ripping upen some bandages.

But before his science bro even had a chance to use the bandages they all saw the skin knitting itself back together until all that remained was a pool of blood. 

“Holy hell, it’s true, it’s really true”, Tony whispered, his eyes still glued to his bloody yet undamaged arm.

Bruce took one look at his pale face and shooed the peanut gallery out of the lab before coming back to Tony to clean the blood off his arm.

“Deep breaths, Tony, you’re ok. It’ll all be ok.”

Tony closed his eyes and tried to calm down his panting breath, tried to keep back the panic he felt rising at the back of his throat. He tried to concentrate only on the sensation of Bruce moving a damp cloth over his arm, the sound of Bruce’s breath and the ticking of the clock on the wall behind him.

When he felt like he had managed to calm down enough he opened his eyes again to look right into his Science Bro’s worried face.

“Are you back with me, Tony? Yes? Then I think we should get you out of these clothes, I fear there is blood on everything.”

“It’s fine, I’ve got lots of clothes, never mind the clothes. I died, Bruce, I really died up there in space. I...might have never seen Pepper again, or anyone. I ...I think I really need some more time to process that. But not now.”

“So it really is all true, what they told you? That they, and you, can’t die?”

“Seems it is, Brucey. I mean, that would be terribly convenient, with me being Iron Man and all. Pepper, and Rhodey, and J can stop worrying about me so much because, hey, I won’t die, no matter what kind of stupid stunts I pull. It’s all good.”

Tony tried to smile but it looked forced and fake and he knew he didn’t convince Bruce at all. 

“But I do have some more questions for the Four Stooges out there. Like how come I’ve been dreaming of six different people yet have met only four of them.”

“So there are two more immortals out there?”

“It seems that way.”

“And I take it you want to find them?”

“If I’ll keep dreaming about them until I meet them then hell, yes, I want to find them.”

Bruce looks taken aback at the steel in his voice.

“She’s drowning, Bruce, again, and again, and again, for years, or...or decades or even longer, I don’t know. She’s drowning. And I dream of her drowning and I don’t know for how much longer I’ll be able to take it. So I will go out there, grab those four idiots, sit them down with more of my expensive vodka and make them tell me everything they know. And then I’ll find her, I’ll build an army of robots to crawl on the seafloor to look for her if I have to, but I will find her and get her out of that water.”

“I would owe you forever if you could manage that”, a quiet voice said from the doorway.  
Neither of them had heard her come in but there stood Xena, looking sad and weary and not at all like the woman who had pulled a gun on him.

“Quynh was...I made a promise to her that I could not keep, Stark, and I have no way of finding her on my own. If you could do the impossible I would be forever in your debt.”

“Ok, then. We’d better get started, hadn’t we? J, get me all the current maps of the seafloor you can find, and start a new project file, title _Nautilus_.”


End file.
